Sunday, June 27, 2010

It's cherry season! To celebrate I bring you a rerun filmed a couple years ago [insert standard lower-quality apology] for clafouti. Other than straight from the hand, this is my favorite way to enjoy cherries. I hope you give it a try! What follows is the original post from 7/28/08...

Clafouti (klah-foo-tee) is one of the world's great recipes for enjoying fresh cherries. This French favorite is a sort of baked custard, studded with fresh cherries, and scented with vanilla. It's the kind of dish that's impossible to become tired of, by virtue of the cherry's short season. Once a year, cherry clafouti comes into your life, like a friend with benefits, and for a few short weeks gives you great pleasure.

The recipe is remarkably simple, and the first time you make it you'll stare in wonder as it puffs up from the sides of the baking dish. You'll also stare in wonder when you see me add the cherries without removing the pits. Traditionally, cherry clafouti is made using fruit that hasn’t been pitted. Clafouti aficionados claim (and I believe them) that as the cherries bake, the pits give off a sexy, sensual scent that is missing from the pitted version.

So, that is the decision you are faced with - risk catastrophic dental injuries for a little extra flavor, or pit the cherries and play it safe. To me, it's no decision at all, the pits must be baked in. Besides, as I'm sure those of you that make this will agree, after the cherries are cooked, it only takes a little press with the fork to liberate the pit, and cast it aside. For your average serving of cherry clafouti this means maybe 4-5 pits - a small price to pay for authentic taste. This recipe will also work for things like peaches, plums, and berries in case cherry season has passed you by. Enjoy!

76 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Aha!! I am glad that you posted this! After the teaser that you posted the other day, I needed the demo video immediately as I had local cherries that needed to be used and a brunch potluck to cook for! So, I had to hunt around the web for a cherry clafoutis recipe... I am very excited to follow yours (I will even leave the cherry pits in, this time!!).

Your cherry clafouti video made my mouth water. I didn't know what clafouti was, but I LOVE custard and I LOVE cherries! So I'm thinking I will absolutely love this dish:) I can't wait to try it out!

Your video is so great! I'd much rather follow a video than read a recipe. Not to mention your video is such high quality. You should check out www.graspr.com and see if you'd want to upload your videos there. They focus on high quality instructional videos, so yours would be perfect!

Can't wait to try this one. The recipe is a bit different than the one I have, so I'm eager to see how it comes out. I made some individual ramekins with berries the other night for a date. She loved it. I made one extra for me for the next morning ;-)

The recipe looks awesome, and I think I'm gonna try this. I'm looking for a desert that is not too sweet, because the family isn't that much of a sweet tooth except my sister, but she always cooks deserts so she gets enough.

This isn't too sweet, right? I'm gonna go over the rest of your recipes to get all my options, but its gonna be one of yours for sure. Love the site.

A little constructive criticism: It says "What's youT food wish?" at the end of the video.What, you thought I had any comment on the cooking? Of course not!

The cherry pits are giving off that cherry-cola (=artificial almond flavoring like) hint, and also the cherry look better unpitted. But when were little kids gobbling up the slices of clafouti on the run, grandma's refusal to pit the cherries made for many pit-bite accidents.

Ooh. I think I might try this with black cherries. Could you replace the vanilla in the recipe with something else? Like, maybe amaretto or something?

I found your site a while back and I've been working my way through all of it, hoping to learn by osmosis! I don't know how I can't try this recipe, though, this is crazy simple and looks delicious! Thanks, John :D

I have a tree dropping sweet white nectarines by the bushelful. My Husband says he will make hooch with whatever we can't eat or give away... However I will try the clafouti with them this week.Thanks for the recipe/idea.Luisa (Vacaville)

I love this recipe! I made it Monday and it was a hit with my French spouse. I kept the pits in on the Ranier cherries and the pits gave the clafouti a touch of a brandy or rum taste. I am making it again today with nectarines. I've also made your delicious cheese recipe. Thank you!

a possibly stupid question from a foreigner, the vanilla, is that vanilla extract or some booze brand or what? If it is vanilla extract, can I use vanilla sugar instead and how much of that would I need?

I saw the first cherries of the season in the store today. Clafouti in the oven now. This was SO easy and fast to put together, I can't wait to taste it. It smells devine and I have a doggie whining in front of the oven.

I have this phobia with stone fruit whereby I imagine a rotten spot or a worm somewhere in there, so I have to cut open and make sure before eating. So, no thanks I will have to halve mine, just in case.

I didn't like this, tasted eggy. I used blueberries and nectarines. The blueberries aren't strong enough in flavor, but rainier cherries are subtle also.

The nectarines really snapped and were the best part, otherwise I copied the recipe. Tasted much to eggy. I think a lemon juice and zest addition, with a vanilla ommission while using a strong fruit, like nectarines would be the best idea.

The thing about rainier cherries and nectarines is neither will discolor the surrounding cake/custard mix.

This looks soo delicious! I think i'll have to try this. I seem to have the same problem as maitino with stone fruit. I adore cherries but my paranoia tends to ruin eating them for me. Thank you for posting this!

Thanks Chef. I've made several clafoutis with this recipe now and they always turn out super. Try fresh figs. They are yum! Also I added a little almond essence to my bing cherry clafoutis. "As always, I enjoyed!" and so did my dinner guests. I made apricot clafoutis topped with Greek yogurt for my last dinner party.

I've made this like 3 times, and it always turns out tasting eggy, and not in a fantastic custardy way. Other recipes call for one less egg. Also, it deflated... which was like watching was like watching one's child fail a spelling bee. Thoughts?

Hey Chef John! It's me, one of your youtube subscribers. :] I know it's kind of late to be commenting on a recipe made years ago, but this is the first recipe off your list that I made. My family loved it! Problem is, my brother came to visit and I really want him to try it. He has high cholesterol though, and so do my parents and my sister. It makes me really sad to know that my family has so much high cholesterol and there's SO MANY dessert recipes that include egg yolks. So is there any way I can cook this...you know...yolk-less? Any more tips on low cholesterol recipes? I plan on becoming a pastry chef, so you're like a hero to me. :D Thank you - Julie

This looks great and when I lay hands on some cherries, I'm definitely doing it.

In the meantime, I have a nectarine tree that's going berserk in my back yard and I'm contemplating nectarine clafouti. I've seen a couple of recipes on the net but I was wondering what your take on it would be. Anything I should watch out for or should I just make the substitution and go full speed ahead?

The pits give an almond-like aroma to the dish. That's because they contain a bit of cyanide, as do bitter almonds and the pits of peaches, nectarines, plums, and other stone fruits. Since the pits are essentially an almond flavoring, I prefer to remove them and add some ground almonds to the batter (and perhaps a very small amount of almond extract). I learned a very clever technique from Rose Levy Beranbaum. You can remove the pits from cherries while leaving them whole by just pushing a toothpick through them and pushing out the seed. A bit of a chore, but at least there will be no pits in your clafouti.

I made this last night and maaaaaaaan was it sweet. If I were making it again I would cut the sugar down by half. The whole thing also took longer to cook than normal and came out pretty rubbery. Did I do something wrong? Also, the layers sort of came apart, the precooked part was much tougher and slide away from the top part when eating. Is there a way to prevent this?

Hi Chef! (another youtube subscriber) Would you recommend that leftovers been heated a bit? Or, would you recommend placing it from the fridge to counter until room temp? Cooking for one is a challenge at times! :)

Thank you again, Chef! I also made a little whipped cream with just a drop or two of Almond extract and a bit of superfine sugar. Wow, this was incredibly easy AND delicious! My sweetheart came home just in time to enjoy this wonderful dessert :) "Oh is that from Chef John?! I remember you watching the video. This is exciting!"

Hey Chef John, I was wondering if, when using other fruits, you need to adjust the amount of vanilla. I plan to make clafouti with peaches and plums, but wasn't sure if I should cut down on the vanilla or use something else instead. Any thoughts?

Blueberries worked well for me. I have a picture of the final result, but don't know how to share it with you. I thought the true test would be what it would taste like in the AM. It wasn't bad, but definitely not as good as the previous evening when it was warm from the oven.

Chef John, I love the clafouti. A little sweet for my taste, so I'll cut back the sugar next time. I used blueberries, raspberries, and some blackberries. Also, made it with full fat soy milk. Followed the video instructions to the letter, but the clafouti is a bit wet all over. Any thoughts as to why this happened? Just found your site and will be checking it out. Thanks!

Chef John, you and your recipes are absolutely amazing! My family and I loved this. My only change was that I used vanilla bean paste in place of vanilla extract.

Every summer, my sister and I go to Rochester, NY to visit family and on our way home we always stop in Sodus and get fresh peaches, plums and cherries, plus what ever else looks good. We always end up with too much fruit and spend the next few weeks trying to find new ways to use it up before it goes bad.

This recipe will be coming out ever year to help fight the summer fruit invasion. Thanks again for such an awesome and easy recipe.

While adding that last 1/3 cup of sugar, I was thinking this was going to be way too sweet. I served it after your million dollar chicken, a pot of butter beans, some corn bread and fried Okra. It was perfect. Not too sweet and not too tart. Just a nice finish to a good meal.Then eased out in the front yard, everyone was too full to chase the Frisbee so we just walked after it.Good food, good times, thanks bunches.P.S. I made the creme fraiche for that chicken and will probably never buy sour creme again.